Permutation switch



Dec. 13, 1927.

A. L. DE LEEUW PERMUTATION SWITCH Filed April 9. 1921 Y (lam r ATTORNEY Patented b en, 1927.

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- NATHAN, or new YORK, 11.1. a

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This invention relates to permutation switches and it deals more especially with an instrumentalit operating through the agency of an electric circuit'for emitting or son, the usage of any device, or structure, such as an automobile or door, to which it is applicable. y

One of themost effective ways, consistent with trafiic regulations (which usually prohibit a lockage of the running-gear), to prevent an unauthorized usage of automobiles, is to provide special means for retaining the usual ignition system in an inop- 16 erative condition. To this end, various mechanical-locks have been put into practice which render it very diflicult for anyone not in possession of the key to actuate the controlling switch. 2o Such mechanical-locks are, of necessity,

composed of a multiplicity of movable elements'and accordin ly, their construction becomes uite comp 'cated in nature and correspon inglyfi expensive to build, and also troublesome to install. Consequently, the tendency is to resort to the cheaper sort of constructions, in the interests of economy with a resultant sacrifice of efiectiveness to 1 cost. Furthermore, it is ordinarily not un-- 40 duly difiicult for a skilled thief to-pick such locks,- even of the better type, or to force the same, and often times a skeleton or master-kc suflice to release any of the combination locks used. on a given series of automobiles The same ObjCOtiODS appl to many of the locks. habitually employe to provide a lock for an ignition system -wh1ch may easily be adapted to sound an alarm or display a si tampered with, and a which will efl'ect a key in connection with safes and cabinets, and also to a considerable extent with respect to the con v ventional types of so-called tumbler combial in case-it is being short-circuiting of the electrical stem under certain "conditions, and, there y, defeat-- I I the purpose of any unauthorized'person at- I tempting to tamper with or operate the lock. 5 preventing, at the will of an aut orized per- Another object is. to provide an -instru-- mentality for opening the circuit of an automobile ignition-system which will efl'ecjtively resisti-ts'closure by" anyone not possessed of the key and which will render such ignition-system inoperative through theestablishment of a short-circuit in case anyone should attempt to close the normal 05 circuit throughthe agency of an all-metal key, or a key in the nature oftfa master- Another ob'ect is to create a lock-oi an extremely simp e nature which may be made most cheaply and readily in large u'antities. in a way such that each individual ock will respond only to its own individual oombiq nation and be incapable of being operated b any master-key or other-device suit- 76 able for any otherlock reduced. Other objects and a vantages will be in part indicated in the following description .and in part rendered apparent therefrom in connection with the annexed drawings. 80'

To enable others skilled in the art to so fully apprehend .the underlying features hereof that they may embody the. same in the variouseways contemplated 1.) this invention, drawin depicting apre ered typical construction ave been annexed as a. of this disclosure, and ,in suchllrawmgs v like characters of reference denote correspending partsthroughout all'the "views, of which- Y Fig.1 is a perspective of one form of this device with the parts assembled. Fig.2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away. Fig. 4 is a plan of the st'ationary member presenting the fixed field of con- 96 .tacts. F1 3 is a plan of'the removable member s owing the com lemen contacts. Eig. 5 is a diametra section with the Figs. 7 and 8 represent-cross-eections'depicting the mounting ofv-the contacts in-the I nsulating material and the mannerin which they are'connected.

ontinuin tailed descnption of the here n-mentioned now by way .de- 106 number of trials.

thereof subject to speculative selection and arrangement.

This invention presents a field of contacts, some of which are real and some of which are false; the real contacts being'connected together in isolated pairs, and one'of the contacts being connected with one end-0f the true circuit and another of the contacts being connected to the other end of said true circuit, these last mentioned contacts being themselves preferably isolated from the,

others in the field. For the purpose of establishing a continuous connection through these variousreal contacts and their connectors it is proposed to use a plurality of simple circuit-closers, each clrcuit-closer preferably consisting of two suitably-connected' contacts. While these circuit-closers may be usedas lsolated loops, it is ordinarily within the spirit of this invention to assemble them on a single piece in the nature of a key, together with a plurality of false contacts.

Of course, the connections between the various leading-in wires and between the various true contacts connected in pairs, are concealed from the user, and, to this end, these various connections are embedded in suitable insulating material in such a manner that the arrangement of the connections cannot be ascertained by inspection or by any-examination not resulting in the demoli tion of the lock,-or the key, therefor:

drawings, a base 1 of in- Referring to the constructed and adapted sulating material is to be afiixed to the dash-board of an autoelements 2 and mobile, or to the door of a room or cabinet,

so as to become a permanent part thereof.

This base 1 may, of course, be shaped and formed in any convenient manner, as for example as shown and it will referably be made of material capable of belng moulded, such as hard-rubber, or the like.

The essential purpose of this base is to support and posltion a plurality of contactwhich they are mutually isolated or connected, as the case may bej,'as will be explained.

These contact-elements are here shown as pins 2 having their shanks firmly imbedded in the base 1 and having their ends protruding, or otherwise exposed, and split so as resiliently to engage and establish an electrical connection with complimentary contactto conceal the manner inelements 3 which may conveniently be assembled on an independent member 4 also of insulating material. These contact-elements 3 are shown as providing sockets 5 in their ends which are adapted to receive, or otherwise interfit with, the contact-elements 2; it being, of course, immaterial what detail is adopted.

When the key is engaged with the lock or base 1, all of the contacts 2 and 3 will, respectively, be engaged. Preferably, the contacts comprisingeach field will be identical with one. another; although this is not of paramount importance so long as they all engage with their mates and do not enable a user to determine from inspection which ones are or are not false conductors. Likewise, the two members 1 and 4 preferably have interfitting portions 6 and 7 'to facilitate the proper intermeshing of the contact-elements;

anyone improperly in possession of the key,

. but not knowing its key-number, to make use of it.

The electric-circuit which controls the ignition-system of the automobile, or the circuit which controls a suitable mechanical or magnetic-lock for other usages, has its leading-in wire 9 connected to the contact a, and the leading-out wire 10 to the contact 6. The matching contact a is electrically joined by the connector A to anyone in its field, such as m so that the current may flow to the contact m when the key is in place; 'The contact m is likewise joined by the conductor B with anyone ofthe contacts in the stationary field, such as n to establish a flow of current to the matching, contact n. The contact n is likewise, by means of the connector 0, connected with the contact r, and the; contact 1' is connected to the contact 8 by means of the wire D. The contact 8 is connected to the contact e by means of the conductor E. I

By this arrangement, the current may flow from the wire 9 to the wire 10 only when the key is properl in place. The conductors A,

are all concealed in the insulat ng material so as not to be visible; the

being dummies, will serve to prevent any-,

one by-trials from determining the true com- 'bination.

To prevent the normal circuit to be closed vmerely by connecting all of the contacts, it

is proposed to lead a short-circuiting wire 11 into connection with one or more of the dummy contacts so that the ignition-system will be short-circuited as a result of such an attempt. This will effectively prevent the use of a master or all-metal key.

So also, this device lends itself easily to the use of an additional safe-guard consisting in running one or two wires 12, from a. suitable horn or other alarm, to certain of the dummy terminals; whereby the alarm will be sounded should the lock be surreptitiously handled.

It will thus be seen that this invention, in an extremely simple manner, achieves the i objects enumerated, and that it admits of being modified and adapted in many different ways and for many different purposes.

Having thus revealed my invention, 1-

claim as new and desire to secure the following combinations of elements or equivalents thereof by Letters Patent of the United States.

1. A permutation switch comprising a plurality of separable members each provided with a. multiplicity of coniplemental false and real electrical contact terminals, only certain of said terminals co-operating to complete an electrical circuit between said members when the latter are assembled in redetermined relation, said circuit being iroken when said members are separated, and means, concealed in one of said members, to connect electricall the selected terminals of that member w ich are involved in said circuit.

2. A permutation switch comprising a plurality of separable members each provided with a multiplicity of complemental electrical contact terminals, only certain of said terminals co-operating to complete an electrical circuit when said members are amembled in predetermined relation, said circuit being broken in a plurality of places when said members are separated, and means, concealed in one of said members, to form a maze of circuit elements.

A permutation switch comprising a permanently mounted member; a detachable member; a plurality of complemental real and false contact-elements exposed on the normally adjacent faces only of said members; an electrical conductor connected to one of said contact elements; an electrical conductor connected to another of said contact elements; and a succession of bonds connecting certain of said elements in pairs on said stationary and said detachable members alternately, to complete an electric-circuit through said switch.

4. A permutation switch comprising a stationary member; a multiplicity of pairs of contact-elements arranged in two sets, the one set being arranged in said-stationary member and the other set being adapted to be bodily separated therefrom; a plurality permanently mounted and the elements ofthe other set being separable from the first set; a primary electrical circuit connected 'with two of said permanently mounted contact-elements; a secondary electrical circuit connected with two other permanently mounted contact-elements; and indicating means to enable an authorized user-to establish electric connections between the separable set and the primary electrical connections of said permanently mounted set without contacting with the secondary electric-connections.

6. A permutation switch for an electriccircuit comprising two separable members;

a plurality of complemental real and false electrical contacts carried by each of said members; means bonding together pairs of said contacts in each of said separable members: and means to indicate. to an authorized user only, the relative positions in which said members may be assembled to complete 8. A permutation switch combining two separable interfitting members, the one member having a pluralit of real and false symmetrically arrange electrically conducting sockets and the other having a plurality of real and false electrically conducting pins normally engaged within said sockets; a plurality of concealed connectors alternately bondingv pairs of pins and pairs of sockets in said members, respectively, the unbonded contacts serving as a maze to pre clude unauthorized use.

9. A permutation switch comprisi g a permanently-mounted member; a detachable member cooperating therewith; a multiplicity of pins and sockets respectively exposed on the matching faoes only of said members; an interrupted electrical conductor consaid conductor; an interrupted electrical conductor connecting a plurality of pairs of said ins certain of said pins being in-' sulated rom said conductor; and means permitting said members to be united with said pairs of pins and sockets in contact to effect a continuous electrical conductor through said switch. i I

10. A permutation switch comprising a stationary member; a set of contact-elements carried by said member; normally concealed bonds connecting in isolated pairs certain elements of said set; a second set of contact elements carried by said'member; normally concealed bonds connecting certain ones of said second set of contact-elements; a removable member; a pluralit of contact-elements carried thereby; bon s connecting in isolated airs certain ones of said contact elements in said removable member, the connecting pairs of contact-elements in said removable member being complemental to the connecting pairs in said stationary element;

and means permitting the connected contact elementsin said removable member to be engaged with the connected series of iither of said sets in said stationary mem- 11. A permutation switch comprising a stationary member; a removable member cooperating therewith; a plurality of contact-elements carried by said stationary member; an interruptedelectrical conductor connected to certain ones of said contact-elements; a plurality of contact-elements carried by said removable member; an inter ranted electrical conductor connecting certain ones of said last-named contact-elements; and locating means comprising interfitting elements carried by said stationary and removable members active upon theuniting of said members to cause one of said interrupted conductors to complete the other interrupted conductor to eflfect a continuous electrical conductor through said switch.

In witness whereof, I'hereunto subscribe my name. I

ADOLPH L. In LEEUW. 

